Prints of darkness: Images of the London Underground in the spotlight at Bonhams

Cyril Edward Power, Tube station sold for £61,250. Photo: Bonhams.

LONDON.- The strongest results from the £1.4 million Bonhams Prints sale yesterday (16th April) were images of the London Underground.

There were two Prints of subterranean London by Cyril Edward Power of the Grosvenor school  Whence and Whither? which made £97,250 and Tube Station, which sold for £61,250.

The Power print of a descending escalator at rush hour in Tottenham Court Road station sold for £97,250. It was estimated to sell for £30,000 to £50,000. The work had not come up at auction for 30 years.

Buyers also bid highly for Cyril Powers Tube Station which gives us a taste of the underground before it was fully integrated into the network we know today, capturing the artists excitement about the new experience of modern technology.

Powers Speed Trial also surpassed its pre-sale estimate, making £73,250. The Powers print spent 25 years hanging on a mans wall, considered nothing more than a nice picture. In a surprise discovery, the print turned out to be a work by Cyril Power.

The works of Ethel Spowers also fetched exceptional results with her work Giant Stride almost tripling its 85,250. It was estimated to sell for £20,000 to 30,000. A further print by the artist that attracted high bidders was her Rain Cloud which sold for £49,250, as well as Island of the Dead, the only depiction of the Australian penal colony Port Arthur.

Other highlights included Claude Flights Street Singers, a rare linocut of street performers printed in 1925 sold for £79,250, doubling its £30,000 estimate. Christopher Nevinsons Banking at 4000 feet also exceeded expectation selling at £61,250, a work which arrived at Prints department in outstanding condition.

Rupert, head of Prints comments: Im delighted with todays result with 89% sale by value which is a clear indicator of the ongoing strength of the Print market and specifically the increasing popularity of the Grosvenor school artists.